The FIM Supersport 300 World Championship enjoyed its first race of the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours’ French Round on Saturday afternoon. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) made his first WorldSSP300 appearance since returning to the category after six races in WorldSSP. Veneman took home his first win since his double at Most 2024, ahead of Matteo Vannucci (PATA AG Motorsport Italia WorldSSP300), who earned his ninth WorldSSP300 podium, and Carter Thompson (MTM Kawasaki), who earned his fourth career podium in the category.

PODIUM FREE-FOR-ALL: Thompson and Vannucci pipped by Veneman

Carter Thompson landed the holeshot from P3; however, Dutch polesitter Loris Veneman and Spanish rider David Salvador gave chase in the early laps until Salvador fell back to P16 after taking his Long Lap Penalty on Lap 2. The Kawasaki machinery pair led the race until Vannucci got his Yamaha R3 in front by Lap 7. #91 wasted no time in charging up the grid from his P29 starting position. After jumping up to P3 by Lap 6, the Italian led much of the contest, yet Thompson and Veneman nipped at his heels into the final laps, the trio an emphatic five seconds ahead of the rest of the pack. Into the final sector of the final lap, Veneman led, until Vannucci and Thompson cut inside the Dutchman. Thompson ran wide, and into the final chicane, Veneman passed the Italian back with an incisive move up the inside through the chicane. The win marks Veneman’s fourth WorldSSP300 win, and his first since returning to the category after a stint in WorldSSP.

KTM RIDERS LEAD PELETON: Tonn and Buis finish P4 and P5

Into the final four laps, less than a second separated P4 from P10, the large pack trading overtakes in corner after corner as they fought for every available point. Phillip Tonn (Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing) led his KTM teammate Jeffrey Buis across the line by just 0.131s to claim P4 for himself and shuffle the two-time WorldSSP300 Champion to P5. Salvador finished in P6 after recovering 10 positions he lost after his Long Lap Penalty. Mirko Gennai (Prodina Kawasaki Racing Sport) nearly beat out the Spanish #38 ahead of him, but the Italian crossed the line 0.057s slower, and had to make do with P7.

TOP 10 finishers: Osuna earns P8 finish

Pepe Osuna (ZAPPAS-DEZA-BOX 77 Racing Team) was eighth fastest in the contest, just under a second slower than the fellow Kawasaki rider in front of him. Sixth-year WorldSSP300 rider Daniel Mogeda (Pons Motosport Italika Racing) took home P9 ahead of Austrian KTM rider Jakob Rosenthaler (Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing), who closed out the top ten positions just under four seconds behind Mogeda. Arai Agaska (ProGP NitiRacing) rode well to recover from his P13 starting position after his six-grid position penalty for passing under a yellow flag in the Tissot Superpole session. Agaska however, lost his track position after a small crash with two laps to go, relegating him back to a P28 finish.

The top six from the WorldSSP300 Race 1: Full results here!

1. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki)
 2. Matteo Vannucci (PATA AG Motorsport Italia WorldSSP300) +0.053s
 3. Carter Thompson (MTM Kawasaki) +0.575s
 4. Phillip Tonn (Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing) +5.690s
 5. Jeffrey Buis (Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing) +5.821s
 6. David Salvador (Team ProDina XCI) +6.019s
 Fastest lap: Matteo Vannucci (Yamaha) – 1’51.835s

Catch Sunday’s quadruple-header of racing action at Magny-Cours tomorrow! Tune in at 11:00 (Local time UTC +2) for WorldSBK’s Tissot Superpole Race with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 50% off!